Clothesline proposal discussed

HARTFORD -- The aesthetics of looking at your neighbors undergarments versus the value of using the sun to save energy got an airing at the Capitol Tuesday, when the battle over clotheslines was resurrected.

Environmentalists and a representative of condominium associations drew a line in the yard as they explained their positions to the Energy and Technology Committee.

Twenty-nine lawmakers have signed onto a proposed bill that would prevent home ownership associations from banning clotheslines or drying racks, an issue that is slowly winning converts across the country, but one opponents find problematic.

Martin Mador, of the Connecticut chapter of the Sierra Club, said one out of six homeowners are prohibited by association bylaws from air-drying clothes.

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He said using the sun to dry laundry saves a minimum of 6 percent on household energy bills, while it is a simple way of starting to address global warming.

The bill would allow associations to determine the best place for a clothesline, and also offers other alternatives, such as folding racks or a drying room.

Testimony was submitted from 147 residents, including many who supported the first attempt at the bill last year. A half-dozen state legislatures are addressing the issue this year, including Hawaii, which passed it in 2008, a measure then vetoed by its governor.

Joanne Mueller-London of the Community Association Institute said many condo developments have limited common space, and she questioned how urban businesses would react to condo neighbors hanging clothes over their balconies.

She said condo rules are established to make it easy for people who live in close proximity to get along.

Rep. Lawrence Miller, R-Stratford, said many condos in his district are three and four stories high and he worried about the cost of stringing lines from each unit. Mador said the bill doesn't prescribe solutions for every condo, but he suggested the clothesline could be put at ground level.

Mueller-London said associations could change the rules by a two-thirds vote.

Lynne Bonnett of New Haven, who favors the law, suggested in submitted testimony that racks with screens could "prevent neighbors from having unwanted laundry in their midst."

Robert Broach of East Haven, who also submitted testimony, viewed the issue with more urgency.

"At this moment in history, energy sustainability is an overwhelming national and global priority for the human race. ... It is unconscionable for anyone to believe that their personal objection to a laundry-filled clothesline is more important than that," he wrote.